America’s Cup: Race Commitee to be Grilled Friday

Angry and frustrated America's Cup challengers will be lobbying for some tightening of the rules when they meet Louis Vuitton race committee chairman Vince Cooke tomorrow.

Angry and frustrated America’s Cup challengers will be lobbying for some tightening of the rules when they meet Louis Vuitton race committee chairman Vince Cooke tomorrow.

But whether all 11 syndicates can agree on a review of the rules relating to pre-start postponements is unlikely. The annoyance stems from Cooke’s decision to allow delays in early races sailed yesterday, but to then turn down later requests because he wanted to get through the day’s schedule, even though other races were due to be sailed today anyway.

That call was later overturned by the international jury, who said the results of two of Wednesday’s races were void.

Both Young Australia and Abracadabra (United States) had called for time for repairs shortly before their races in the afternoon, but had their requests turned down. Four requests for delays because of gear failure had been allowed in morning racing.

Young Australia, who simply packed up and went home when their request was denied, will re-race Stars and Stripes this afternoon, while Abracadabra will line up again against Luna Rossa of Italy.

Abracadabra had suffered rudder damage and was soundly beaten by Luna Rossa after being unable to even start the race at the same time.

Details of the jury’s decision were not immediately available, but the decision comes as a slap on the wrist for the race committee, and a reminder of the need for fairness.

Follow Yachting World

Please keep me up to date with special offers and news from Yachting World and other brands operated by TI Media Limited via email. You can unsubscribe at any time.

We'd also like to send you special offers and news just by email from other carefully selected companies we think you might like. Your personal details will not be shared with those companies - we send the emails and you can unsubscribe at any time. Please tick here if you are happy to receive these messages.